No Fun League To Become Even Less Fun

Not only is the New Orleans Saints’ Jimmy Graham redefining the tight end position, but he has also inspired an NFL rule change. According to the league’s vice president of officiating, players will no longer be allowed to dunk the ball over the goalpost after touchdowns.

Dean Blandino confirmed the rule change during a radio interview with “The Dan Patrick Show” on Tuesday. He said dunking the ball over the crossbar will now be considered a foul along with other touchdown celebrations that involve props.

Previously, dunks were grandfathered in as a legal celebration, along with the Lambeau Leap.

“We grandfathered in some, the Lambeau Leap and things like that, but dunking will come out,” Blandino said, according to NFL.com. “Using the ball as a prop or any object as a prop, whether that’s the goalpost, the crossbar, that will come out and that will be a foul next season.”

Because, of course, it is far more important that the N.F.L. deal with silly post-touchdown celebrations than with serious issues like the long term consequences of concussions, right?

Related Posts:

About Doug MataconisDoug holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May, 2010 and also writes at Below The Beltway.
Follow Doug on Twitter | Facebook

Comments

If course if you actually read the article, the real reason for the rule change becomes clear, and is completely reasonable to me. This is one of the celebration rules that is actually practical and makes sense:

Graham is clearly the main inspiration for the rule. Twice in his career, his celebratory dunks have knocked the uprights off balance. Last season in Atlanta, a Thursday night game had to be delayed while workers releveled the crossbar.

Causing a delay during a nationwide telecast is extremely bad for ratings.

Not only can it damage the crossbars and posts, but there is a risk of injury. I hope that this ban also prohibits fans from tearing down the goal posts at the end of a game. I have seen films of that and it is a wonder some one does not get hurt.
There was a time when celebrating was done at the end of a game, not every time there is a score, a gain, or a tackle. That is self serving.

Not only can it damage the crossbars and posts, but there is a risk of injury. I hope that this ban also prohibits fans from tearing down the goal posts at the end of a game. I have seen films of that and it is a wonder some one does not get hurt.
There was a time when celebrating was done at the end of a game, not every time there is a score, a gain, or a tackle. That is self serving.

Frankly, I’m surprised the goalposts can’t handle a dunk from a single player, no matter how big and strong he is. But regardless of my lack of goalpost construction knowledge, it’s clearly a real issue.

@Franklin: Sorry about the double entry, I am not sure how that happened.
Are there any comparisons in other sports that anyone can think of ? I think those backward burnout laps done by winning race car drivers are getting old.

There has been some talk of eliminating the Point After TD kick and maybe the TD be 7points.
How about no PAT kick and let them score the extra point by dunking the ball over the goalpost.
Problem(?) solved.

Misses have become extremely rare, so there are at least 10 chances for injury on every one of those mere formality plays. Maybe twenty if there is a penalty and they have to do it twice.

What they could do is make TD’s 7 points. If you want to go for 8, you can line up for what is now the “two point conversion” for another point, but if you don’t make it one point will be deducted and your TD will only be worth 6.

However, this scene changed when more programmers became aware
of virus programming and started building viruses that manipulated and destroyed data on infected
computers. Today, lots of websites and blogs bring in unheard of income for their owners merely by promoting another’s company on their web pages.
You can download Avast Free Antivirus for free from the
Avast website.